JNN Newsletter - May 18, 2017

May. 18, 2017

“Pray continually,”1 Thess, 5:17

‘MOVING THE EMBASSY WILL FINALLY SHATTER THE ARAB FANTASY’: PM Binyamin Netanyahu weighed in Sunday evening, 14 May 2017 on the issue of the USA embassy in Israel, after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Trump was still considering whether to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and was “listening to input from all interested parties in the region.” The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement reaffirming the Prime Minister’s support for the relocation of not only the American embassy, but all embassies, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying that such actions would be conducive to regional peace by finally putting to rest Arab aspirations to divide the Israeli capital. "Israel's position has often been expressed to the American administration and to the world,” the PMO’s statement read. "The transfer of the American Embassy to Jerusalem not only will not harm the peace process, but the opposite. It will advance it by correcting a historic injustice and by smashing the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. Israel's stance is that all the embassies belong in Israel's capital of Jerusalem, and the USA Embassy should be one of the first to move." (Arutz-7) Intercede that USA President Trump in May 2017, will make this very important decision in favor of Israel; that is, the relocation of the USA embassy to Jerusalem in accordance with his campaign promise – and without a political price-tag attached to it that would be too high for the Jewish state to pay. Israel’s coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) said on Mon. 15 May 2017 that while the Trump administration may be prepared to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it would likely demand a concessions from Israel in return beyond what PM Netanyahu would be willing to accept.

10,000 POLICE ASSIGNED TO SECURE TRUMP’S STAY: More than 10,000 police officers will take part in securing the two-day visit of USA President Donald Trump, expected to take place on 22-23 May 2017. Trump will arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport, where he will fly by helicopter to Jerusalem to visit the Old City and Yad Vashem, and sleep in the King David Hotel’s presidential suite. Officers from the full range of regular and special patrol units including undercover units, border police and counterterrorism units will secure the visit. The Israel Police are operating in coordination with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Trump’s Secret Service detail for the visit. Major traffic disruptions are expected in Jerusalem during Trump’s stay, and Yad Vashem will be closed to all visitors on the day of the presidential visit. From Jerusalem, Trump is expected to visit Masada and Bethlehem, flying in a helicopter in coordination with the police and the IDF. The Masada fortress will be under heavy security for the president. Around 900 personal, and 56 vehicles, including 14 limousines, will accompany Trump to Israel while some 30 C-17 transport planes will land in Israel carrying bullet proof glass to be installed in the president’s hotel suite, along with hundreds of tons of other equipment, according to the report. (J.Post) Pray for the safety of USA President Trump during his time in Israel and against terrorist attacks and Islamist violence during Jerusalem Day, (Yom Yerushalayim). Jerusalem Day 2017, takes place on 23-24 May and marks the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967. President Trump’s will likely still be in Israel for the opening of this year’s landmark celebration. What a perfect time it would be for the USA leader to announce his final decision to move the USA Embassy to Jerusalem!

HAMAS TV STATION TO BROADCAST RAMADAN SERIES THAT GLORIFIES THE ‘HEROES FIGHTING FOR JERUSALEM’: During the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, an official Hamas-run television station will broadcast a series that glorifies the “heroes [terrorists] fighting for Jerusalem.” The show, titled “Gates of the Sky,” will begin airing on Al-Aqsa TV on 27 May 2017, the first day of Ramadan (a fasting month in which many Muslims remain at home and watch television). The series will feature violent clashes between Palestinians on one side and Israeli settlers and soldiers on the other. “If you live in Jerusalem, you know the meaning of life,” one of the show’s actresses says in a promo. “You can die at any moment.” Another actor says, “We must oppose them [the Jews], and open the gates of hell on them.” Ramadan is often a time of increased tensions in Israel, with security forces on heightened alert for potential Palestinian terrorist attacks. (Algemeiner)

BARGHOUTI CALLS ON PALESTINIANS TO CARRY OUT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Archterrorist Marwan Barghouti met with his lawyer for the first time since he initiated a hunger strike last month. Barghouti was later caught on camera breaking the hunger strike. Barghouti transferred to the lawyer a letter in which he called on the Palestinian public to strengthen its identification with [terrorist] prisoners and to initiate civil disobedience against the [so called] "occupation." (Arutz-7) A Tel Aviv judge convicted former Fatah terrorist commander Marwan Barghouti on 20 May 2004, of murder for his involvement in three terrorist attacks in Israel that killed five people. He was acquitted for 33 other murders due to lack of evidence of his direct involvement in those crimes. When arrested in 2002, he headed Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. After he was imprisoned, he was re-elected member of the PA parliament. Such are the men Palestinians glorify as their leaders and heroes.

VISION FOR ISRAEL HELPS TERRORIST VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES: Victims of terror in Israel face, in many cases, months of rehabilitation, loss of work, emotional trauma, all of which affect entire families. Vision for Israel helps support victims of terror and their loved ones. This is in addition to providing comfort and provision for many of the nation’s poor, including children, the elderly and Holocaust survivors. Please continue to give generously at www.visionforisrael.com. For residents in the UK and outside N. America visit our website at www.josephstorehouse.co.uk. Your donations are vital and appreciated.

USA: IRAN STILL DEVELOPING NUCLEAR MISSILE TECHNOLOGY DESPITE UN RESOLUTIONS: Director of USA National Intelligence Daniel Coats told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week that Iran has been steadily improving the range and power of its ballistic missiles in order to carry a nuclear warhead over thousands of miles to reach USA soil, in violation of UN resolutions. Coats said Iran is using its space program as a disguise to illegally perfect ICBMs. (Daily Alert)

NORTH KOREA: NEW LONG-RANGE MISSILE CAN CARRY HEAVY NUKE: North Korea said Mon. 15 May 2017 that the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of “medium long-range” ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead. A jubilant leader Kim Jong Un promised more nuclear and missile tests and warned that N. Korean weapons could strike the USA mainland and Pacific holdings. The announcement marks another big advance toward the North’s goal of fielding a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the USA mainland. Some experts, including officials in Tokyo, estimate that Sunday’s launch successfully tested a new type of missile in Pyongyang’s arsenal. The test is also an immediate challenge to South Korea’s new leader, Moon Jae-in, a liberal elected last week who expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea. Pyongyang’s aggressive push to boost its weapons program also makes it one of the Trump administration’s most urgent foreign policy worries, though Washington has struggled to settle on a policy. North -Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency called the missile a “new ground-to-ground medium long-range strategic ballistic rocket,” and said the “Hwasong-12” was “capable of carrying a large, heavy nuclear warhead.” Kim Jong Un witnessed the test and “hugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing.” Experts estimate that Pyongyang’s test of new arsenal could be game changer, posing an urgent challenge to region. (Times of Israel)

THANKS TO OUR MISTAKES WITH IRAN, THE NORTH KOREAN THREAT TO THE USA IS AT RECORD LEVELS: USA President Trump is dealing with many national security challenges. These range from cyber attacks, radical Islam, securing national borders and rebuilding the American military. The North Korean threat, with its combined nuclear and ballistic missile technology capability, must rank near the top. Donald Trump during his campaign called the Iranian nuclear deal “the stupidest deal of all time” and said that his top priority would be to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.” With regards to N. Korea, Trump said he wanted China to get more involved to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program. As he now confronts the North Korean nuclear threat, Trump needs to remember the dangerous link between Iran and N. Korea. In short, Iran has been the “great enabler” of the national security threat America faces today from N. Korea. As documented years ago by the Federation of American Scientists, Iran has been intimately linked with N. Korea since the early 1980s and has helped fund N. Korea’s missile development through oil and cash payments. We are now seeing the consequences of getting a nuclear deal with Iran just to get a deal. Allowing Iran to be at least $150B. richer as a result of unfreezing its assets, makes the current N. Korean threat Trump now faces much more difficult. Thanks to “enablers” like Iran, N. Korea is the greatest nuclear weapons challenge to the USA since the Cold War.

Meanwhile, days ago, a senior IDF officer said at a special briefing that ongoing tension between N. Korea and the USA could also impact Israel’s security. The officer referred to the developing diplomatic rift between the USA and the peninsula following N. Korea’s recent and defiant attempts to extend its nuclear activity, despite repeated warnings from the West. He explained that Israel could bear the brunt of such an escalation in the relations between Washington and Pyongyang should it occur, because the USA would have to divert security resources from the Middle East to Korea. Also, in regards to N. Korea, for 16 consecutive years, Open Doors has ranked N. Korea “the most oppressive place in the world for Christians.” Tens of thousands of Christians are believed to be held in political labor camps. Often sick and malnourished, these captives are subject to extreme violence and crude torture, suffering beatings with electric rods and metal poles, and even being used as test subjects for medical experiments, as reported in Christian Solidarity’s 2016 report on N. Korea. Christians are frequently sentenced to these labor camps simply for owning a Bible. (Fox/Arutz-7/JNN) Intercede for divine relief and the comfort of the Holy Spirit to be with those who are persecuted, imprisoned and suffering for their faith in North Korea.

RESEARCHERS DISCOVER NEW BUTTERFLY SPECIES IN ISRAEL: For the first time in 109 years, researchers have discovered a new species of butterfly in Israel and neighboring Syria and Lebanon. The species, identified as Acentria’s fritillary was discovered by a team of researchers from St. Petersburg, Russia. The butterflies were seen over the slopes at the Hermon ski resort in northern Israel and researchers said they believe the butterflies were likely mistakenly thought to belong to an already known species. “Thousands of people had observed and many had even photographed this beautifully colored butterfly, yet no one recognized it as a separate species,” said researcher Vladimir Lukhtanov, entomologist and biologist. “The lepidopterists (experts in butterflies and moths) had been sure that the Hermon samples belonged to the common species called Persian fritillary, because of their similar appearance, but nobody made the effort to study their internal anatomy and DNA,” said Lukhtanov, the lead investigator of the study. The researchers believe these butterflies can only be found in northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria. (Times of Israel)

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Vision for Israel & The Joseph Storehouse is a non-profit organization founded by Barry & Batya Segal in 1994, out of the desire to help build and restore the Land of Israel. VFI provides aid to poor and needy people from all backgrounds, living in the nation of Israel today.